-- have such a forceful impact on the economy. that is a political decision more than it's an economic discussion right now. >> peter, i'm going to give you the last word. >> it's really a political issue. this is not the right time to be cutting. maybe another six months. however, the president sees this as an opportunity to get the cuts in ways that he likes best because he won the election. fair enough. so the president sees a political opportunity. i think there's some danger here by not just renewing all these tax cuts and sitting down and talking about tax reform and spending cuts by midyear, that there's a real danger that we could tumble the economy. >> all right. peter, ali, thank you so much. we'll be waiting. obviously, days away to see what's going to happen here. thank you. >>> one of the most staunchly conservative members of the u.s. senate calling it quits. senator jim diment announced he will resign from congress at the end of the month. he is leaving to take over the think tank the heritage foundation. he says he